Coakley
BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley announced a settlement on Friday with a San Francisco-based children's retailer resolving allegations that it failed to follow the Massachusetts Meal Break Law.
The Gymboree Corporation will pay $463,600 to resolve all allegations raised by Coakley's office. The settlement amount includes $130,000 in payments to former and current managers who worked between July 1, 2009, and July 1, 2011, $320,000 in penalties to the state and $13,600 to update company policies to be in compliance with the Massachusetts Wage Act.
Coakley's Fair Labor Division began looking into Gymboree's meal break policies after receiving a worker's complaint forwarded by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The worker alleged that managers in Gymboree's Massachusetts stores were not given the opportunity for meal breaks. The Massachusetts Meal Break Law states that employers cannot require employees, including managers, to work more than six hours straight without a 30 minute meal break. During that meal break, employees must be free to leave the premises and must be relieved of all duties.
Gymboree cooperated fully with Coakley's office on the matter.